Failure to Report and Investigate Alleged Misappropriation of Resident Property
Penalty
Summary
Facility staff failed to follow the abuse/misappropriation policy requiring immediate reporting and investigation of alleged misappropriation of resident property. A cognitively intact resident (BIMS score 15) reported in a 12/11/2025 progress note, documented by an RN, that a male resident entered her room while she was sleeping, took her phone, and that she subsequently recovered the phone and called the police. The note further documented that the DON was made aware and that facility security de-escalated the situation, with social services to follow up. Despite this documentation, there was no evidence that the allegation of misappropriation of property was reported to the abuse coordinator/administrator or that an investigation was initiated as required by the facility’s abuse policy. During the survey, the resident reiterated that another resident had come into her room a few weeks earlier, unplugged her phone, took it, and took facial pictures of himself on her phone, and that she immediately informed the nurse who retrieved the phone. The alleged perpetrating resident denied entering other residents’ rooms or taking phones. The DON stated he was familiar with the resident but had never heard of anyone entering her room and taking her belongings, and stated that the RN had not notified him of any theft. The administrator, designated as the abuse coordinator, also stated he had not been informed of any incident involving the resident’s property and confirmed that, based on the RN’s progress note shown to him by the surveyor, the incident constituted misappropriation of property that should have been reported and investigated under the facility’s abuse policy. The facility’s written policy requires that all allegations of misappropriation of resident property be documented and result in an investigation, including interviews and record review, which did not occur in this case.
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